((OOC: I had way too much fun writing this
))
Saving lives was hard work.
No, really. There were long, angry rope welts scored down the entirety of her arms, purple bruises on her abused knees, not to mention scraped knuckles- all a consequence of vaulting off ledges and dangling over the Astronomy Tower to save a Slytherin boy. And to top it all off, her whole skin seemed to be shrunk tight over her overlong, gangly skeleton- a natural consequence of dry winters and a girl who simply couldn't be fussed to put on moisturiser.
It wasn't like Alisha didn't care for personal grooming- oh no, she cleaned up rather well when she fancied it. But seriously, would you really spend an hour copiously applying Dr Sleakazy's Glowing Skin Moisturiser while there was a magical castle to be explored? She had half-forgotten the secret passages and all the doors that pretended to be walls- and was determined to rediscover them all before the week ended.
Worst of all, the reason she had to go around flinging herself off towers to save knights in distress inspite of being a witch: she couldn't quite find her wand.
Of course there was the maple wand, and it was brilliant at Charms and all that; but Alisha found herself at sea without her trusty sycamore. You tended to bond with a magical piece of wood after it had been through three skirmishes in foreign countries (and a fight with a moody badger) with you. So here she was, kneeling on the floor in naught but a white school shirt that reached mid-thigh, flinging object after object out of her dorm-mate's trunk in search of her wand.
Why the dorm-mate's and not hers? Because Alisha had the sneaking feeling that Miss Buttercup-Curls didn't adore her as much as the rest of the inhabitants of Hogwarts. She wouldn't use the word dislike. It was a very strong word.
Yes, Alisha was highly observant that way.
And yes, she'd misplaced her uniform too, in case you were wondering. However did you guess?
Alisha tossed yet another sculpted/engraved thingy over her shoulder, hands scrabbling through clothes restlessly. The object landed with a crash, fairly reminiscent of breaking glass. She couldn't be much bothered, half her mind was still occupied in brewing up a plan to sneak into the Headmistress's Office. Saving a Slytherin boy from dying by falling from fifty feet and cracking his skull: was surely very heroic. Heroic enough for the Hat to
finally admit, after hundreds of altercations that Alisha had initiated by breaking into the Office- that it had made a mistake in Sorting her. Barmy old codger.
"What the hell do you think you're doing?" "Eating a Pygmy Puff in Lithuania; what does it look like?" The irritated words escaped her. Alisha's eyes scanned over a piece of parchment, letter apparently, that she had unearthed from the bottom of the trunk. Said trunk which was now absolutely empty. Darn......it wasn't here. All that work in vain.
She got up to her feet, knees creaking in protest from being bent too long, shirt hem whispering about the skin of her thigh, tickling slightly. She scratched the area absentmindedly; then turned.
Aw crap.
"Ehrm....." Alisha extended her hand, acutely aware of the crumpled ball of parchment lying innocuously on her palm. The word AWKWARD seemed to be floating in the air between them. The corner of the 'A' bumped off Buttercup's nose. "Your....letter?"